Welcome to the Running in Cork blog, home of the Cork running community. This is the largest website in Cork & Munster for news on road races and athletics. Included are a current race calendar, race previews, photos, results as well as some local, national and international news items.

Pages

Friday, April 30, 2010

Entry date for cheaper Cork Marathon entries extended...
Due to some website issues, the closing date for the cheaper entries for the Cork City Marathon & Relay has been extended by 24 hours until midnight on Saturday, the 1st of May.

Preview of the Doneraile Park Trails 5 km race - Fri 30th Apr 2010 (8pm)...
This is the first race of 8 in the Ballyhoura Active Summer Series and what a start! Doneraile Park is a great spot for a race......no cars, nice trails and a nice scenic backdrop. If you have never seen the park before then it's well worth the trip. It's a real pity that we don't have something like Doneraile Park closer to Cork City!

The race itself is organised by Mallow AC and starts at 8pm.

Getting there....
If you are coming from Cork, then head North from Mallow on the main Limerick road and turn right at New Two Pot House. Follow this road to Doneraile.

Entry.....
The entry fee is only €5 so no complaints there. Last entries are at 7:30pm.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

New Race Series in North Cork & South Limerick...
Anyone who had been running for a while will have noticed that there are plenty of road races near Cork City and in East Cork while there is a definite shortage in the West and North of the county.

The situation in West Cork has improved greatly this year with some new races on the calendar like the Banty 10 mile in the Mealagh Valley, the 10 k race in Dunmanway and the Cork BHAA 5 km race in Macroom.

North Cork used to be an area with plenty of races before. Many moons ago, there used to be a 10 mile race in Charleville while more recently, there used to be a race series on Friday evenings during the summer months. For the last few years however there has been very little activity in the North Cork / South Limerick area.

So with that in mind, it's great to hear the news that there is a new Ballyhoura Series starting up again! The very first one is on Friday evening the 30th of April in Doneraile Park just to the North of Mallow. It's a stunning location for a race and the entry fee is only €5! More details in a later post.

For more info on the Ballyhoura series, here is some info from the organisers...

Ballyhoura ACTIVE Running & Walks Summer Series

A number of athletic clubs in the region are supporting a series of traditional style road races and walks. This series is being promoted by Ballyhoura Failte in order to boost Tourism and physical activity in the Ballyhoura region. All of the events will be held in scenic locations and it is hoped that this will add to the great friendly social atmosphere which is common at these events. The following is a list of the locations, along with the dates and times of the events;

Other races to follow in Liscarroll, Mitchelstown and Kilteely over July and August.

Participants who complete 5 of the 7 races will receive a high quality t-shirt as an incentive to participate in as many of the events as possible. Receiving the t-shirt will act as a momento of their achievement. It is hoped that this will be an encouragement for people who don’t normally exercise to set themselves a goal to participate in this series.

Information on the series as a whole will be available on the Ballyhoura Country website www.ballyhouracountry.com

Updates & News....
Just some quick info...
1) A video for the Ballintotis 4 mile race has been up for the last few days. In case you missed it, scroll down the page to see it.
2) Update on the Ballycotton photo saga....see down the page
3) A new race series coming up in North Cork and South East Limerick! First race is tomorrow evening in Doneraile. More info here later this evening.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Preview of the East Cork Road Championships...Thurs 29th Apr 2010Normally Championship races are confined to members of athletic clubs only. This one however is open to anyone who wishes to take part. The numbers taking part are usually small and the entry fee is usually very modest.

East Cork Road Championships........Directions.........Take the N25 to Midleton and on the main street, take the turn off left (R627....This is signposted "Dungourney 10; Tallow 26"). After 9 kms, you reach Dungourney and keep going towards Tallow. Later you will pass Leahy's Open Farm and then you need to take a left at the next crossroads. This is signposted "Ballynoe 5; Conna 9". From there, it's a straight 5km run into Ballynoe. If you're coming from Fermoy direction, you most likely need to go via Conna. Note that Ballynoe is a fair ditance from Midleton so plan your journey, and allow plenty of time to get there.

Registration...........Registration, changing, refreshments and results are at the "Ballynoe Community Centre".This is at the north end of the village, opposite the Church.
There are two events 1) The Ladies’ 2000m (7:30pm) and 2) The Men's 5 mile race.

Men’s Five Mile.....The middle section and the majority of the race consists of four laps of a triangular course. The start line is a half-mile south of the village, on the road towards Dungourney. You then run back into the village, through the central crossroads, and past the Community Centre, going downhill slightly.
After the yellow "junction ahead" sign, you take a sharp left.You're onto a narrow quieter road, continuing downhill again.
Just after a YIELD sign, and the FAILTE hedge, you take another sharp left. After 100m the road gets *very* steep, as you go uphill past the GAA grounds, and the Garda Station.
At the top of the hill, there is a STOP sign. This is the crossroads. Turn left here. That completes the first of four triangular laps.
As each lap is a little over a mile, you will appear to encounter the mile-markers in reverse order! Don't worry; just count your laps carefully.
At the fourth lap, you will turn right at the STOP sign, heading out the road from which you started. The finish line is at the brown Eircom public telephone box.(...with thanks to Donal O'Donoghue for the above preview)

Info from the organisers..... The East Cork Road Championships are on in Ballynoe on this Thursday 29 - the ladies race at 7.30pm 2K and mens race over 5 miles at 8pm. There is a really tough hill which the men meet 4 times as it is a 4 lap course. Team and individual medals to be won in both raecs. Entry is normally low although outside runners do sometimes participate. Medals obviously confined to runners from East Cork region. Dan McCarthy & Co will have a warm welcome for everybody to Ballynoe.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Running Workshop by Shane Simcox - Tues 4th May 2010...Shane Simcox will be presenting a Running workshop in Leisureworld Bishopstown on Tuesday May 4th at 8pm - 9.15pm.
Topics that will be covered on the night will include interval training, training for 5k to marathon, nutrition , footwear ,Tapering, injury prevention etc.. as well as a Q&A session at the end.
Places can be booked by calling Leisureworld on 021 4346505 or dropping him a mail at shanesimcox30@eircom.net

Results of the Cork BHAA 'Stride by the Tide' 4 mile beach race - Mon 26th Apr 2010...
There was a great turnout for this 4 mile beach race in East Cork with 232 runners taking part. That compares with 186 in 2009 and 185 in 2008. That's a 25% increase on last year which might suggest that the growth or peak in numbers may not be behind us quite yet.

Closing Date for the Cork City Marathon & Relay....
Just a reminder that the closing dates for the Cork City Marathon & Relay are fast approaching. The cheaper entries close next Friday, the 30th of April (€70 for the Marathon & €100 for the Team Relay event). After that, it will cost €80 and €110 until the final closing date on the 10th of May.

If you are not running in the Marathon then you should really consider getting a team together for the Relay event. The Cork City Marathon is much more than just another Marathon or race. The whole day is literally like a huge running festival and gives people of different fitness and abilities a chance to achieve their own personal goals.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Preview of the Cork BHAA 'Stride by the Tide' 4 mile Beach Race - Mon 26th Apr (8pm)
This race is a bit unusual for 2 reasons...1) It's the only beach race in Cork and..2) It's on a Monday evening! I can't remember the last time there was a race on Monday evening of a normal working week.

Directions...
Take the main road for Youghal from Cork. As you approach Youghal, do not go on the Youghal bypass but take the left just before it, go under the bypass and head towards the town. After a few hundred metres, look out for and take the turn off right. It should be signposted as the R633 for Ballymacoda. After 1.5 kms on this road, you come to a crossroads. Turn left here. You should see the signposts for the Quality Hotel anyway. See the map above.

Entry...As per normal at Cork BHAA events, it is €5 for registered runners and €8 for non-registered.

Course...

From what I remember, it is basically two and a half laps of a course that is marked out on the beach. It is a very unusual race in that as you take the sharp turn at the end of each loop, you are watching everyone else who is ahead and behind you. It's a bit like running a race and spectating at the same time. The race is run on a part of the beach which is between the low tide and high tide mark. As a result, you are not running on soft sand although you might hit the od patch. You should have no problem doing it in your normal runners.

Overall...

The fact you can watch a race at the same time as running in it makes this a special and unusual event. The softer surface, while ok for running on, definetly means that your time for this 4 mile race will be slower than usual. The sand seems to absorb most of the energy when you foot hits the surface and you need to put more effort in than you would on the road. If you want to see where the race is, have a look at this link...

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Ballycotton Running Promotions name the culprits in the race number transfer saga....(Updated Wed 28th Apr)
What a headline! Worthy of the front page of any tabloid newspaper ;o)

.....or at least it was!

This year for the first time, Ballycotton Running Promotions took the decision to publish photographs of people who had raced under someone else's name. As you can imagine, this was a decision that wasn't taken lightly and has been their strongest response to the problem of people transferring numbers to date.

As you might expect, taking such a strong position provoked a number of strong responses with several people agreeing and some disagreeing.

I can only imagine the level of frustration they must have in trying to organise a race, including a simple provision that runners won't transfer their numbers and then seeing people ignore it year after year.

Can you imagine what it must be like to organise a race like this, have a list of let's say 20-30 prizewinners and then to have to ask the question......"Did all of these prizewinners actually run in the race today?"

As for putting up a photo and link on this blog, I also questioned whether I should put up a post about it. After thinking about it, I decided I should even though I knew some people may disagree with it.
Factors in my decision were....
1) It was already up on the Ballycotton website and in the public domain
2) Since the Ballycotton '10' race is such an important race locally then I knew it would be of interest to a lot of people.
3) I think Ballycotton Running Promotions did the right thing in publishing photos this year. The Ballycotton '10' is a non-commercial race run by runners for runners. A huge number of people give up their time to make this race the success that it is. Why should we feel sorry for the few individuals who ignore the rules and make things difficult for the organisers? What about the hundreds who didn't manage to get in and yet did the right thing!

The original post was here for a few days and the message has certainly got out there. Having said that, I don't believe that a permanent record should exist on the Internet so I have taken the original photo down and removed the link.

I understand Ballycotton Running Promotions will be doing likewise.

Here is a statement from them....

RE: RACE NUMBERS TRANSFERRED As stated on our website, the publication of names and numbers was an unprecedented step and one not taken lightly. But after our pleas and warnings were ignored for many years, we had no other option.

At this stage, we feel people have got the message and therefore will be removing the names and numbers. We never intended to leave them up on a long-term basis but felt we had to take a stand. Rest assured, prior to next year’s race, we will again be reminding people of the consequences of transferring numbers. There are very few ‘terms and condition’ to follow in entering our race, or indeed in any other such events. All we ask is that people follow the rules that they agree to when signing their names on the entry form.

The few rules that are there are in the interest of those taking part and in maintaining the integrity of the event. We have always striven to be fair and impartial to all concerned and will continue to do so and only ask to be treated likewise in return.

Stroke of Success - Survey for UCC....Irene Hartigan of UCC AC is currently doing a survey for UCC on the warning signs of a stroke. It only takes 2 minutes to complete. Please read the following piece and see if you can help out...

Stroke of Success at the School of Nursing & Midwfery, UCC.

Do you know the warning signs for a stroke?

Please take 2 minutes to take part in our survey at the School of Nursing & Midwifery UCC to assess the public's awareness of the warning signs of stroke. We will contact you again in 4 months to retake the survery, so please submit your e-mail address in the space provided. This information will be protected and only available to the data manager. A national stroke awareness campaign will be launched on the 6th of May by the Irish Heart Foundation and we hope that this will create awareness of the warning signs of stroke.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Results of the Ballintotis 4 Mile Road Race - Thurs 22nd Apr 2010....(Updated Sat 24th Apr)
There was a huge turnout of 436 runners for this race in Ballintotis just to the south-west of Castlemartyr in East Cork. Just to put that in context, the 2009 Castlemartyr race got 218 runners while the 2008 event attracted 156.

To go from 218 to 436 in one year which is an exact doubling of numbers.....Why the big increase?

I suppose some may be interested in trying a new course and seeing what it might be like? That however would only account for a small increase.

I'd imagine that the real reason is the level of publicity that the race got. John Cashman of Midleton AC has been promoting this race for several weeks and getting the word out there. There is a huge pool of people out there who don't normally take part in running events and if race organisers can reach them then they might be persuaded to turn out.

Photos......(Update Sat 24th Apr)
There is a selection of about 160 photos up now on the Ballintotis website

Race Video....

A quick word from John Cashman about the race....

4 Mile Race in Ballintotis

A word of thanks to all who participated in last evening’s 4 Mile Road Race in Ballintotis.Hopefully you enjoyed your visit to our local area.

We are aware that some runners did not receive a souvenir cap when they crossed the finish line.Quite simply our most optimistic pre race predictions of 400 were surpassed.Thus we have red-ordered a batch of additional caps which will be ready by early next week.Every effort will be made to forward these in the near future.If you wish to confirm your contact details please drop an e mail to johncashman1 AT eircom.net

-Again a sincere thank you to one and all for your support of our race, all proceeds from which go directly to our Community Centre Building Fund.

Pageviews last month

How to...

Follow by Email

Subscribe To

Contact...

About Me

Quote...

'If you want to win something, run 100 metres. If you want to experience something, run a marathon' - Emil Zatopek, Winner of the 5k, 10k and Marathon, Helsinki Olympics, 1952 and broke the existing Olympic record in each event.